Stuff To Add To Ro Water To Make It Right For Malawi's

[blue acara]

hi,

ive just ordered an ro unit i know you can get stuff to add to the water to make it perfect for marine, and im hoping its the same for african. do anyone know where to get it? put a link on here if you do.
cheers

dan

 

[Boids-n-more]

are you refering to water hardness , if so then crushed coral seems to work well.

 

[blue acara]

yer hardness, ph and all the elements needed, what im really looking for is something i can add to the water before adding to the tank-when doing water changes

 

[vile]

Ahhhh i always put AquaSafe and aquarium salt both found at petsmart

 

[mamafish68]

why on earth are you using a RO for a cichlid tank? unless your keeping discus theres no need. it softens the water tooooo much so why bother with chemicals that you could FK up real easy.

 

[blue acara]

why on earth are you using a RO for a cichlid tank? unless your keeping discus theres no need. it softens the water tooooo much so why bother with chemicals that you could FK up real easy.

because the tap is 40-50 ppm nitrate-i want perfect conditions for my fish

 

[mamafish68]

GOOD GOD ALMIGHTY!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS? I'm sorry you have to live with that...







(mental note; never move to London...period!!!)

 

[BiffMalawi]

I think that the crushed coral substrate and about 1 tblspn of aquarium salt added new water during changes should be all you need. Baking soda, calcium carbonate rocks as decor can help buffer PH as well.

I prefer not to routinely add chemicals to my tanks.

 

[BiffMalawi]

Sorry I meant 1 tablespoon per 5gallons

 

[Ferris]

(mental note; never move to London...period!!!)

 

[Nick Sw]

Coral sand substrate will help but not much I use the CF Buffer recipe works really well it helps if you`ve got a PH meter just use Bicarbonate of Soda and Epsom salts they are both really cheap to buy and I`m certain are the same as the commercial buffers, I also add Cichid trace elements. My tap water is around PH7.0 GH4 KH4 and I`ve kept my tank fairly constant at PH8.3 GH17 KH18 using bicarb and Epsom salts.

Both Seachem and Kent do a full range of buffers for African Cichlids but it costs a bit more than the home made buffers.

Buffer Recipe
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php

Seachem Range
http/www.seachem.com/products/cichlids.html

Kent
http/www.kentmarine.com/freshwater/lmb.html

 

[jayjay]

Mix half and half with tap water for all the elements you need. pH buffers are your substrate and rocks.